The City

California's second largest city and the United States' seventh largest, San Diego boasts a citywide population of nearly 1.3 million residents and more than 2.8 million residents county wide. Within its borders of 4,200 sq. miles, San Diego County encompasses 18 incorporated cities and numerous other charming neighborhoods and communities, including downtown's historic Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, Coronado, La Jolla, Del Mar, Carlsbad, Escondido, La Mesa, Hillcrest, Barrio Logan, Chula Vista and more. Known for it's near-idyllic climate, 70 miles of pristine beaches and dazzling array of world-class family attractions, including the World-Famous San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, Sea World San Diego and LEGOLAND California, San Diego offers a wide variety of things to see and do, appealing to guests from around the world. In San Diego's East County, the terrain varies from gentle foothills to mile-high mountains and the historic mining town, Julian, down to the 600,000-acre Anza Borrego Desert State Park, offering nature-conscious visitors endless opportunities to hike, camp, fish, observe wildlife and much more. In San Diego's North County, the land produces quantities of flowers as well as quality grapes that become excellent wines, which are served at some of the most elegant restaurants and resorts in the region. Along the west, 70 miles of Pacific Ocean coastline not only supports year-round outdoor recreation, such as surfing, boating, sailing and swimming, but also important scientific research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. To the south, it's a whole different country, Mexico, featuring its own cultural offerings in various towns along the border and coastline, including Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada. San Diego's arts and culture and culinary arts are making a name for themselves, both nationally and internationally. Balboa Park, the largest urban cultural park in the U.S., features 15 museums, numerous art galleries, beautiful gardens, the Tony Award-winning The Globe Theatres and the World-Famous San Diego Zoo. The region is also a breeding ground for the hottest, new talents of culinary arts, who prepare award-winning meals in many of the region's 6,400 eating establishments. San Diego County also features 92 golf courses and a variety of exciting participatory and spectator sports, beachfront resorts and luxury spas, gaming, a dynamic downtown district, annual special events and unique holiday offerings, multicultural festivals and celebrations, colorful neighborhoods and communities, a rich military history, accessibility for travelers with disabilities and much more.

Attractions

Qualcomm Stadium
One of America's finest multi-purpose facilities, Qualcomm Stadium opened in August of 1967. Built to accommodate a wide variety of events, ranging from baseball and football to concerts and off-road events, the Stadium has become the center of the San Diego sports scene and has given the City a Major League reputation in the world of sports. Major events that have taken place at the Stadium include the Major League Baseball World Series in 1984 and 1998, the MLB All-Star Game in 1978 and 1992, and the NFL Super Bowl XXII in 1988 and XXXII in 1998. Qualcomm Stadium is also the current home of the San Diego Chargers.

9449 Friars Road
San Diego, CA 92108
P: (619)641-3100

With an understated Spanish Mission-style exterior and a layout that's designed to create individual "neighborhoods" within the ballpark, Petco Park is a distinctive addition to major-league ballparks. Following in the "less-is-more" formula found in parks opening in the 2000s (Petco Park seats open 46,000 -- 20,000 fewer than Qualcomm Stadium), the main selling point of Petco Park is its intimate atmosphere and integration into downtown San Diego. All of the stadium's seats are oriented toward the pitchers' mound, thanks to the horseshoe design of the grandstand. But, perhaps as important, the stadium is designed with lots of open areas for walking around, so fans can get a view of the action from several different angles throughout a game. There are actually only 42,000 seats in the ballpark, but the capacity is expanded thanks to standing-room-only areas scattered throughout the park and a grassy outfield berm area.

San Diego has enough attractions to keep visitors and residents busy for a good, long time, from Sea World to the renowned Zoo, from missions steeped in history to world-famous masterpieces and thoroughbred racing tinged with 1930s Hollywood glamour.
A climate that is mild and pleasant year round contributes to the myriad of outdoor activities and tours, and San Diego's indoor pursuits beckon for their interactive, education qualities, or historical significance

Welcome to LEGOLAND®, where creativity meets fun! Discover kid-powered rides, cool building challenges, a unique mix of interactive attractions, exhilarating coasters, shows that pull the audience into the action and so much more. It’s a land of surprise around every colorful corner, lively music, both whimsical and astonishingly accurate LEGO® brick models and a chance to let everyone’s imagination run free. LEGOLAND puts the "fun" in family trips with something geared towards every family member, and dozens of things to enjoy together.

At the World-Famous San Diego Zoo, you will see some of the world’s rarest wildlife including giant pandas and koalas. Included at the Zoo is Ituri Forest, a mysterious central African rain forest where adventurers encounter forest buffalos, hippos, otters, okapis, colorful birds and acrobatic monkeys. Other unique habitats include Polar Bear Plunge, Tiger River, Gorilla Tropics and Sun Bear Forest. The 100-acre Zoo, one of the area’s most popular attractions, is also a lush botanical garden. Also included in the San Diego Zoo's 4,000 animals representing 800 species are the ever-popular favorites -- lions, tigers, bears, elephants, giraffes, orangutans, zebras and gorillas. Most of the Zoo's inhabitants live in enclosures which resemble the animals' natural homes in the wild. San Diego's ideal climate makes it possible for most of the Zoo’s animals to live outdoors year-round and for visitors to have a pleasant visit no matter what the season.

Sea World San Diego opened March 21, 1964 and has hosted more than 100 million guests. The highest standards of animal husbandry, education and marine life display have earned Sea World San Diego accreditation from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). Sea World has been honored by the AZA many times for significant achievement in education, breeding and display of marine wildlife. Our Mission Statement: To entertain, amaze and educate, creating memories that last a lifetime.

Opened to the public on May 10, 1972, the San Diego Wild Animal Park is a unique adventure -- a zoo unlike traditional zoos -- in which animals roam in entire herds and flocks, in enclosures measured in acres rather than feet. It is a facility designed first for the animals, and second for the people who come to observe them. It remains, as dubbed at its birth, "the zoo of the future." With a 32-acre Heart of Africa walking safari, Wgasa Bush Line Railway, Lorikeet Landing, Nairobi Village, and Condor Ridge, a visit to the San Diego Wild Animal Park is like a safari to many of the world's most exotic places. Set against the native habitat of the San Pasqual Valley, the Park also features lush botanical gardens.

Entertainment

Sevilla, a wonderful restaurant with locations in Gaslamp and North County, features a 2 hour Flamenco Dinner Show on Saturday nights. Flamenco is the mesmerizing dance of Andalusia, where gypsies and Spaniards would gather, often in "caves", to feel the rapture and passion of the music. The movements explode with energy as the dancers and guitarists engage in a contest of mood and emotion. On Friday nights, Sevilla features an exciting Tango Dinner Show, demonstrating the passionate movements and tempos developed in Argentina. Guitarists entertain nightly in the Tapas Bar.

It's been a fine movie theater, a second-run house and a revived but financially failing cinema. The Star Theater in Oceanside now starts another new life: as a performing arts center and home of the Poinsettia Theatre for the Performing Arts. The Oceanside Unified School District will have use of the theater at least five times a year, and a performing-arts program will be taken into elementary school classrooms. The Independent Film Society will be allowed to show its movies 10 to 12 times a year. The Star, which now seats 870 but is due to be reduced to 550 seats, will stage mostly musicals. The 200-seat Sunshine Brooks Theater will primarily be the site of recitals.

Over the past 15 years, Sledgehammer Theatre has emerged as a nationally recognized company known for intense dedication to the development of new American voices in the theater. Sledgehammer Theatre has created, performed and presented over 45 new theater productions including 15 world premieres and six west coast premieres. The company's work is distinguished for adventurous excellence and numerous artistic achievements; the repertoire is routinely recognized for spectacular use of space and design, prolific new play development, and vibrant performances. In Southern California, Sledgehammer Theatre functions as a regional center for the creation of new theatrical events. The company provides an environment for the exploration of theatrical forms; a laboratory for established and emerging artists; and an arena for public participation in the immediacy of new and provocative American theater.

Golf

A short front side on this rolling course in the San Carlos area of San Diego gives way to a longer back nine along the scenic shores of Lake Murray.

Torrey Pines is world renowned with a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean. Home of the Buick Invitational PGA TOUR event, Torrey Pines has been ranked the "best" place to golf in a readers poll with the San Diego Union-Tribune and San Diego Magazine, as well as one of the top ten golf courses in San Diego County according to Golf Industry Online. Torrey Pines is the only municipal course in the "best course" listing for the state. Facilities include: two 18-hole championship golf courses, driving range, practice putting greens, restaurant, food & beverage carts. Torrey Pines boasts the west's largest Golf Shop, offering a full range of golf merchandise for sale and the rental of golf shoes, clubs, hand and power golf carts. The Professional Golf Staff offers group and individual golf lessons. Torrey Pines hosts the PGA TOUR Buick Invitational each February.

Balboa Park Golf Course is located near the heart of Downtown San Diego. The facility features an 18 hole championship course and a nine hole executive course. All 27 greens were recently renovated and new cart paths were added. The 18 hole course features views of the City and Coronado from many holes. Facilities include: An 18-hole golf course and a 9-hole executive golf course, driving range, practice putting greens, coffee shop and half-way house. The Golf Shop offers golf merchandise for sale and the rental of clubs, hand and power golf carts. The Professional Golf staff offers group and individual golf lessons.

Coronado Golf Course - One of the most scenic in the area, with San Diego Bay running alongside four holes and views of the city and mountains beyond . . . Between the usual one-club wind and bermuda-kikuyu mix of grasses, the course seems to play a little longer than its measured yardage . . . greens tend to slope back to front and are in consistently good shape despite 110,000 rounds annually . . . Coronado is built on sand reclaimed from the bottom of the bay; when rain closes other area courses, this one's usually open.

Aviara Golf Course - Arnold Palmer's only design in the area has most holes rising and falling with the land, mounds alongside wide fairways; and enormous greens. At 7,007 yards, the Four Seasons Aviara Golf Club is one of the longest and toughest in the county. Two Aviara holes, Nos. 8 and 18 are consistently at the top of everyone's list of the best in the county -- and by extension, the country. Says Tim Sherburn of Vista about No. 8: "The most beautiful golf hole I have ever played. Downhill, through the trees, across the lake to a beautiful bunkered green." The Palmer trees and the water on the course will concern you most on the fairways at Aviara, but don't let that spoil your ocean view. The course was opened to the public in 1991. When the adjacent Four Seasons Resort Aviara opened, it put the course on the national map.

College and Universities

SDSU is a wonderfully talented, diverse, energetic community dedicated to learning and public service. We value the potential of all individuals and are dedicated to providing educational experiences, in and out of the classroom, which will embrace and develop those abilities. Many members of the SDSU family have worked hard to create a friendly and easy-to-use resource which can answer your questions about our campus. However, if you cannot find what you need here, please don't hesitate to contact us via e-mail or by telephone. We are proud to be a partner in the success of the San Diego region. We look forward to being of assistance to you, as well.

Since its founding four decades ago, the University of California, San Diego - one of the ten campuses in the world-renowned University of California system -- has risen rapidly to its status as one of the top institutions in the nation for higher education and scientific exploration. Nestled along the Pacific coastline on 1,200 acres of coastal woodland, UCSD is a powerful magnet for those seeking a fresh, next-generation approach to education and research. UCSD numbers five Nobel Laureates on its faculty, ranks seventh in the country in the number of National Academy of Science members, and has one of the nation's highest percentages of faculty elected to the prestigious national academies.

The University of San Diego is a young institution. It was founded in 1949 when Most Reverend Charles Francis Buddy, the first Bishop of San Diego, and Reverend Mother Rosalie Hill, Religious of the Sacred Heart, obtained charters from the State of California for San Diego University and San Diego College for Women respectively. Since classes began in 1952, the institution has consciously fashioned for itself an image both intellectually challenging for its educational mission and aesthetically attractive.

Southwestern College is located on a 156-acre suburban campus in the heart of eastern Chula Vista. Established in 1961, the College has evolved into a comprehensive facility, helping thousands of students achieve their specific educational goals. Southwestern College has been continuously accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. One of California's 106 public community colleges, Southwestern is the only postsecondary educational institution in South San Diego County. The College is governed by a five-member governing board publicly elected to four-year terms.

MiraCosta College - If your goal is to earn a bachelor's degree, you can take freshman- and sophomore-level courses at MiraCosta and then transfer to a four-year university. It's easy-with transfer agreements MiraCosta has established with institutions including the University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, and California State University San Marcos. Find out more at MiraCosta's University Transfer Center! If your goal is to gain job training to qualify you for an entry-level position, consider enrolling in one of MiraCosta's certificate programs. The programs range from one semester to two years and include preparation for careers in marketing, multimedia technology, licensed vocational nursing, biotechnology, child care, horticulture, and dozens more. If your goal is to work toward an associate in arts degree, you can do so in a variety of academic fields. Most students complete an A.A. in two years.

Grossmont College, is a community college with a reputation for high quality instructional and student support services provided to its students and community for over 40 years. With educational excellence as the primary goal, Grossmont College is devoted to creating an environment that encourages student success. You will find a distinguished and committed faculty and staff ready to serve you. Grossmont College is an award-winning college with outstanding programs and student achievements.

As one of the largest and most successful of California's 107 community colleges, Mesa College takes pride in its high academic standards, its excellent programs and services, and its personal approach to helping each individual student succeed. At Mesa College, students will find a wide and diverse array of courses and programs leading to the A.A. or A.S. degree in both academic and vocational subjects as well as programs leading to occupational certificates. Students may also pursue programs of general interest.